==Israel to simulate striking Iran in massive IDF drill

Amid concern Iran is close to a nuclear weapon, “Chariots of Fire Drill,” will simulate war on six different fronts.==

The Israeli military will simulate striking targets far from Israel’s borders with a large number of planes while simultaneously acquiring new targets on various fronts in real-time during its largest military drill in history.

According to the IDF, the drill is unique and unprecedented in scope and will enable the army to maintain a high level of readiness in an ever-changing region. It aims to improve the military’s capabilities in an intense, multi-front and prolonged war on all its borders.

During the drill the Air Force will also drill on striking targets far from Israel’s borders while troops continue to contend with a multi-front war on its borders.

The military, which is seriously planning several military options against Iran should the nuclear talks between the West and the Islamic Republic fail, will drill on one of the possible options during the exercise.

The military will also implement all lessons learned from Operation Guardian of the Walls throughout the entire month.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-706929

CONGRATULATIONS, JOE —IT'S A NEW RECORD: 234,088 Migrant Encounters in April, Highest in DHS History

According to Fox News border correspondent Bill Melugin, the DHS court filing for April shows more than 230,000 migrant encounters were logged at the southern border last month —the highest number in DHS history.

“BREAKING: There were 234,088 migrants encountered at the Southern border in April, per a DHS court filing today. That’s the highest number in DHS history,” Melugin tweeted Monday afternoon. He added that “117,989 migrants were released into the U.S. in April” and “113,248 were removed, including 96,908 expelled via Title 42.”

And with the end of Title 42, that number is only going up. Members of the GOP are doing everything they can to prevent the Biden Administration from lifting the Trump-era health policy that has helped turn migrants around at the border —including filing a lawsuit against Biden.

“Revoking Title 42 will create an unprecedented surge at the southern border and it will overwhelm law enforcement agencies and non-governmental organizations as well,” the Republicans who filed the lawsuit argue. “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, (DHS), estimates getting rid of Title 42 will result in as many as 18,000 migrants per day – which could mean 540,000 migrants in a single month.”

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) responded to the record-breaking news on Twitter.

“Over 234,000 illegal aliens crossed in just ONE MONTH! This record breaking disaster is the direct consequence of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris refusing to enforce the law. #BidenBorderCrisis”

https://hannity.com/media-room/congratulations-joe-its-a-new-record-234088-migrant-encounters-in-april-highest-in-dhs-history/

Bioweapon components were made near our borders — Putin citing evidence

https://odysee.com/@RT:fd/on-biological-labs:4

NYC Mayor Eric Adams Says There Should No Limitations on Abortion, Including Day of Birth

https://rumble.com/v14y5lm-nyc-mayor-eric-adams-says-there-should-no-limitations-on-abortion-including.html?mref=22lbp&mrefc=6

GOP Rep. Kat Cammack reveals video of huge stockpile of baby formula at border center after being slammed by White House for sharing photo of supplies being given to migrants while Americans struggle to feed their children

A Republican congresswoman took a trip to the US-Mexico border to expose the stockpiling of baby formula being sent to border facilities while American families continue to face empty shelves amid a nationwide shortage.

Rep. Kat Cammack, of Florida, was accused of lying about the formula crisis after she shared photos she was sent by sources last week showing full shelves of baby formula and food at a processing center at the southern border.

Abbott Laboratories revealed Monday that it had entered into a consent decree with the FDA that creates a pathway to reopen its Michigan baby formula factory, however the timeline for operations remains unclear.

The outrage at the border stock pile also comes as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans next week to end restrictions, known as Title 42, that have prevented migrants from seeking asylum under U.S. law and international treaty on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Border officials are preparing for surge in the numbers of migrants when the health order expires on May 23

The legislator, escorted by border patrol agents, captured pictures and videos from inside the facility, showing pallets filled with unopened boxes of baby supplies.

One image showed mounds of infant formula featuring handwritten dates, likely to denote expiration, of June 2023.

She also showed video of migrants appearing to utilize the supplies.

Cammack, speaking to Fox after the visit, said it is 'just another example of the broken administration that doesn't know how to govern.'

http://www.stationgossip.com/2022/05/gop-rep-kat-cammack-reveals-video-of.html

REVEALED: BLM founder Patrisse Cullors paid her baby father $970,000 for 'creative services', her brother $840,000 for security, a fellow director $2.1m and reimbursed the organization $73,000 for a charter flight

Newly released tax filings revealed how Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors used charity funds to pay her friends and family large sums for various 'consulting' services, as well as charter a private flight.

The documents reveal that BLM paid a company owned by Damon Turner, the father of Cullors' child, nearly $970,000 to help 'produce live events' and provide other 'creative services.'

Leaders have attempted to justify the expense by saying the foundation's protection could not be entrusted to former police professionals who typically run security firms because the BLM movement is known for vehemently protesting law enforcement organizations.

A consulting firm run by Shalomyah Bowers, who is BLM's board secretary and has previously served as deputy executive director, was paid more than $2.1 million for providing the organization with operational support, including staffing, fundraising and other key services.

Cullors resigned from BLM last year amid a wave of scrutiny surrounding the charity's finances.

She has repeatedly denied claims that she took money from BLM for personal matters and has reiterated that all the purchases and transactions - including a lavish $6million home in Los Angeles, dubbed Studio City - were legitimate.

The new filing also revealed that Cullors reimbursed BLM $73,523 for a charter flight for foundation-related travel, which the organization says she took in 2021 out of concern for COVID-19 and security threats.

She paid the foundation an additional $390 over her uses of the 6,500 square-foot Studio City property for two private events.

The latest financial disclosures come after Cullors had already come under fire for receiving a $120,000 payment - 'consulting fees' - by BLM.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2022/05/revealed-blm-founder-patrisse-cullors.html

Busted: Biden’s “Minster of Truth” Nina Jankowicz Participated in Secret NATO-Funded Cabal to Subvert Western Democracies Using Disinformation as Cover

As Revolver and others have covered, Nina “Moaning Myrtle” Jankowicz is a joke. The Harry Potter superfan-turned-propagandrix is now the Biden Administration’s chosen head for the “Disinformation Governance Board.” Among many other embarrassing videos in circulation is the following clip of Nina Jankowicz bizarrely and emphatically dismissing the notion of the so-called “deep state.”

For those who can’t stand uptalk, here’s what she said in the video:

Talking about the deep state and things like that which is a thread among conspiracy communities here in the United States, that there is this secret cabal here in Washington working to undermine the American people couldn’t be further from the truth, as someone who works with and around these public servants every day.

Whatever one thinks of the precise term “deep state,” Nina badly wants everyone to dismiss the very concept of secret groups operating within Washington. She works “with and around” them after all, and she says such a cabal or network of cabals does not exist.

In fact, Nina does know the truth, and it’s the opposite of what she claims above. Nina’s name appeared in one of the most explosive and aggressively censored national security leaks of the century. The leak in question exposed the “Integrity Initiative,” a dark government-funded NGO that appears to have engaged in political meddling and covert influence operations in Western countries under the guise of fighting “disinformation.”

Founded in mid-2015 under the auspices of the U.K. government-funded NGO “Institute for Statecraft,” the Integrity Initiative boasted a precociously fashionable motto: “Defending Democracy Against Disinformation.”

The Integrity Initiative “defended democracy” by recruiting secretive “clusters” of academics, national security bureaucrats, journalists, think tankers, and lobbyists in multiple European countries. These clusters would then be engaged in various ways to address nation-specific threats of so-called “Russian disinformation.”

In its organization, funding, operation, structure, and rhetoric the Integrity Initiative is the single best template for understanding how the entire hornets’ nest of NGOs, journalists, and “national security” bureaucrats work secretly and in concert to wage psychological warfare against citizens of the West. One cannot understand how the Disinformation Industry functions without understanding the little-known (and now defunct) Integrity Initiative.

Thankfully, before its demise, hackers leaked a huge swath of internal documents from the Integrity Initiative. More on that leak in a moment, but for now, here is an official description of the “clusters” from one of those leaked documents:

Full text transcribed here for readability (emphasis ours):

The network of networks:

The Integrity Initiative was set up in autumn 2015 by the Institute for Statecraft in cooperation with the Free University of Brussels (VUB) to bring to the attention of politicians, policy-makers, opinion leaders and other interested parties the threat posed by Russia to democratic institutions in the United Kingdom, across Europe and North America

The Integrity Initiative Aims to unite people who understand the threat, in order to provide a coordinated Western response to Russian disinformation and other elements of hybrid warfare.

The nature of this response needs to render counter productive the Russian tactic of dividing countries internally and from one another. This will be the case if each Russian information and influence attack provokes the country targeted into sharing analysis of the attack with other countries in the network on a governmental basis, thereby increasing collaboration and Alliance cohesion. NATO’s political Committee can play an important role here.

An effective network is best achieved by forming in each European country a cluster of well-informed people from the political, military, academic, journalistic and think-tank spheres, who will track and analyze examples of disinformation in their country and inform decision-makers and other interested parties about what is happening.

Nina Jankowicz’s name appears in a 2018 leak as a member of the “inner core” of the Integrity Initiative’s U.K. Cluster, specifically in the sub-group dedicated to Russia.

https://www.revolver.news/2022/05/biden-minster-of-truth-nina-jankowicz-and-the-secret-nato-funded-cabal-to-subvert-western-democracies-using-disinformation-as-cover/

Chinese Boeing plane was ‘intentionally’ death plunged into mountain, killing 132 says new report

Flight data recovered from the black boxes of the China Eastern Boeing 737-800 airliner crash on March 21 showed that the plane’s sudden vertical “death plunge” into a mountain was an intentional act carried out by someone in the cockpit, a new report revealed.

In an exclusive published Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal said people close to U.S. officials conducting a preliminary assessment of the accident determined from flight data that manual actions performed on the flight controls directed the plane into its sharp plunge into a mountain.

“The plane did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit,” one of the sources told The Wall Street Journal. The preliminary assessment mirrors a Leeham News and Analysis trade publication report last month that said the flight data indicated the pilot deliberately inputted flight controls causing the crash.

The source noted that Chinese officials leading the investigation haven’t found any mechanical issues or flight control malfunctions that would support a different theory. If evidence of such issues were found, Boeing and airline safety regulatory agencies would typically issue industry-wide alerts, but that hasn’t happened in this case.

Officials involved in investigating the crash are now focusing on the actions taken by the pilot, though they’re also exploring the possibility that someone broke into the cockpit to intentionally cause the crash, the source said.

China Eastern told The Wall Street Journal that evidence so far has not shown whether or not any aircraft problems were present. They denied the plausibility of an intruder into the cockpit and noted that Chinese officials said no emergency codes were activated from the plane before it crashed.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/05/chinese-boeing-plane-was-intentionally-death-plunged-into-mountain-killing-132-says-new-report/

Biden: White supremacy a ‘poison’ in America

President Biden on Tuesday called white supremacy a “poison” in the U.S. and called on Americans to reject the racist white “replacement theory” believed to have inspired the gunman behind the tragic Buffalo shooting.

“I call on all Americans to reject the lie,” Biden said in emotional remarks from Buffalo Tuesday afternoon. ”I condemn those who spread the lie for power, for political gain and for profit.”

“We need to say as clearly and forcefully as we can that the ideology of white supremacy has no place in America,” Biden said. “None.”

Biden delivered the remarks after he and first lady Jill Biden met with victims’ families in Saturday’s mass shooting, which police are investigating as a racially-motivated hate crime.

Biden called the weekend shooting that left 10 dead an act of “domestic terrorism.”

“What happened here is simple and straightforward: Terrorism. Terrorism. Domestic terrorism,” Biden said. “Violence inflicted in the service of hate and the vicious thirst for power that defines one group of people being inherently inferior to any other group.”

The president broadly called out the media, politics and the internet for radicalizing individuals and spreading the racist “replacement theory” that white people, in particular, are at risk of being replaced by minority groups. But he did not single out any particular individual, even as Fox News primetime hosts and certain Republican lawmakers have come under scrutiny in recent days for their rhetoric about immigrants and their lack of denouncing notions of white supremacy.

https://thehill.com/news/administration/3491360-biden-white-supremacy-has-no-place-in-america/

Jury selection in Sussmann trial spotlights DC's liberal bias, panel includes three Clinton donors

Presiding judge's wife represents former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, whose texts critical of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump led to her departure.

The trial for 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann this week in Washington, D.C., highlights the left-leaning of the nation's capital — with as many as three jurors reportedly having donated to the Clinton campaign.

A fourth juror on the 12-member panel supported New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, according to the New York Post.

In addition, presiding federal judge Christopher Cooper says he and Sussmann were "professional acquaintances" while at the Justice Department in the 1990s. And the judge's wife represents former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.

Page exchanged text messages critical of then-GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign with then-FBI agent Peter Strzok, with whom she was having an extra-marital affair.

The District of Columbia votes overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates, with Democrats outnumbering Republican voters 76.5% to 5.4%, according to the most recent figures from the city's Board of Elections.

In 2016, D.C. voters favored Clinton over Trump, 90.9% to 4.1%.

Special Counsel John Durham's team objected to putting one Clinton donor on the jury after the man said he would "strive for impartiality as best I can," the Post also reported.

However, the prosecutors were overruled by Cooper, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who said the Clinton supporter "expressed a high degree of confidence" that he wouldn't be biased.

Judges can remove prospective jurors if through questioning it appears they're not suited to sit on the jury for various reasons, including an inability to be impartial.

Durham, who was appointed special counsel in October 2020 by the Justice Department, is charging Sussmann as part of an ongoing investigation into the origins and conduct of the government's probe of alleged ties between Donald Trump and Russia.

Sussmann is on trial for allegedly lying to the FBI at a September 2016 meeting in which he presented the agency with information insinuating Trump-Russia links.

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/jurors

EVACUATION OF UKRAINIAN FIGHTERS FROM AZOVSTAL CONTINUES. NO PROMISES OF THEIR EXCHANGE

On May 17, the Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed that the surrender of the militants of the nationalist Azov regiment and Ukrainian servicemen, who were blocked at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol began. Over the past day, 265 militants have laid down their arms and surrendered, including 51 seriously wounded. All those in need of medical care were sent for treatment to the hospital in Novoazovsk, Donetsk People’s Republic. The other were transferred to the village of Elenovka in the Donetsk People’s republic.

The surrender of the “garrison of Mariupol” continues. The Ukrainian fighters are disarmed, then they are sent to Novoazovsk or Elenovka.

On May 17, a Russian military reporter in Mariupol claimed that as of May 16, there were over 2.5 thousand AFU servicemen in the industrial zone, 404 of them were wounded. 55 servicemen were seriously injured. 200 corpses of dead fighters were frozen in refrigerators.

There were also three Russian prisoners, including an officer and two soldiers.

In total, 804 members of the Azov nationalist regiment were hiding in Azovstal. The others were servicemen of the 53rd, 54th, 56th separate brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the 36th separate brigade of Marines, 501st and 503 separate battalions of marines and 12 brigade The National Guard, which included “Azov”.

The military reporter added that the decision was made not to comment on the situation in Azovstal. The officials claims will be made by the Russian Ministry of Defence.

In an attempt to justify the fall of the Ukrainian fortress, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine called the surrender of the AFU remnants from Azovstal a “delicate situation.” The Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine stated that the GUR, the AFU, the border service, the National Guard, the SBU, the National Police and Azov are carrying out a special operation to rescue defenders of Mariupol blocked on the territory of the Azovstal plant. If the operation was aimed at the transfer of the nazi fighters to the Russian military, it likely succeeded.

The Kiev regime continuesly claims that all the Ukrainian militants should be exchanged to the Russian prisoners of war. The Russian military officials have not confirmed any exchange so far.

Moreover, on May 17, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin ordered to work on the proposal of the members of the State Duma to prohibit the exchange of all Ukrainian Nazis to Ukraine. He added that this issue should be worked out jointly with the Defense and Security Committee.

“You are making the right offer. Nazi criminals should not be exchanged. These are war criminals. We must do everything to ensure that they face trial” Volodin summed up.

https://southfront.org/evacuation-of-ukrainian-fighters-from-azovstal-continues-no-promises-of-their-exchange-videos/

Three Portfolio Managers and Allianz Global Investors U.S. Charged in Connection with Multibillion-Dollar Fraud Scheme

Gregoire Tournant, Chief Investment Officer of Allianz Global Investors U.S.’s Structured Products Group, and Two Others Charged with Fraud Offenses

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-portfolio-managers-and-allianz-global-investors-us-charged-connection-multibillion

Swiss Military Give Schwab 5,000 Troops and ‘No-Fly Zone’ for This Year’s Davos Summit

The Swiss government has laid on its biggest military deployment in peace time – not for any war or overseas intervention, but rather to protect the global elite who are gathering in Davos for Klaus Schwab’s annual World Economic Forum confab.

Aside from soldiers erecting security fences, the Swiss government will be deploying some 5,000 military personnel, as well as thousands of local and regional police.

The Swiss Air Force jets will be constantly circling above to the event to enforce a ‘no-fly zone’ during the elite globalist summit.

Reuters reports…

DAVOS, Switzerland, May 16 (Reuters) – Movers and shakers arriving for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) this month can pack sandals instead of ski boots for a rare springtime version of the event in Davos, the Swiss ski resort that is Europe’s highest city.

In December, organisers postponed the meeting of government, business and other leaders just before its traditional January slot, citing the difficulties of holding an in-person conference during the coronavirus pandemic. read more

Simply putting on the event after a two-year hiatus is welcome news to locals, who, a 2017 study showed, benefit from a $60 million windfall every time it takes place.

“All the people here are very glad that the World Economic Forum is coming back now. It is another step back to normality,” said Samuel Rosenast, spokesperson for the local tourism board.

The pandemic slammed hotels and restaurants in Davos, whose fresh air and sunlight drew sanatoriums featured in German novelist Thomas Mann’s work “The Magic Mountain”.

“The whole congress business was dead,” Rosenast said, noting that Davos’s conference centre had closed for more than a year.

Construction crews have been finishing pop-up networking facilities for the business and political elite that descend for the May 22-26 conference. Soldiers are erecting security fences.

The Swiss government will deploy as many as 5,000 military personnel to support local police. Air force jets will again circle above to enforce a no-fly zone.

Geneva-based WEF says the meeting will bring together more than 2,000 leaders and experts from around the world, somewhat smaller than some past meetings. No government or corporate bigwigs from Russia were invited, because of the Ukraine war.

Topics on the agenda include the pandemic recovery, tackling climate change, the future for work, accelerating stakeholder capitalism, and harnessing new technologies…

https://21stcenturywire.com/2022/05/17/swiss-military-give-klaus-schwab-5000-troops-and-no-fly-zone-for-this-years-davos-summit/

Ukraine Passes Israel to Become Biggest Recipient of US Military Aid in Matter of Months

The Senate advanced $40 billion in additional proposed US assistance to Ukraine on Monday, with the final passage of aid package expected to take place as soon as Wednesday. Last week, Senator Rand Paul temporarily held up the bill by requesting some oversight for the billions in taxpayer dollars Washington plans to shovel in Kiev’s direction.

The United States has sent over $3.8 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since late February - over 30 percent more than it has over the eight-year war in the Donbass, and making Kiev the single largest recipient of US arms aid in 2022 so far.

Between 2014 and 2021, as post-Euromaidan coup governments in Kiev sought to crush the fledgling Donbass independence movements by force, Washington provided the country with $2.7 billion in "lethal and non-lethal" military aid, including Humvees, sniper equipment, patrol boats, Javelin anti-tank missiles, and training.

President Joe Biden stepped up arms aid, approving over $335 million in assistance between the time he stepped into office in early 2021 and the escalation of the crisis in the Donbass at the start of this year.

After Russia and its Donbass allies kicked off their military operation in Ukraine in February, the US delivered thousands of Javelins, AT4 anti-armour systems, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, Mi-17 helicopters scavenged from Afghanistan, radars, grenade launchers, a host of small arms, M777 and M198 howitzers and artillery, armoured personnel carriers, drones, jamming equipment, and other aid.

The $3.8 billion in assistance, which does not account for over a billion euros more in military aid from Washington’s European allies, has made Ukraine the single largest recipient of US military aid in just a matter of months. For comparison, in 2020, Israel received $3.3 billion in US military assistance, with Afghanistan and Egypt getting $2.7 billion and $1.3 billion during the same year.

The new $40 billion combined military and "humanitarian" aid package making the rounds in Congress includes $19.75 billion in new defence assistance, including $6 billion in weapons and training, $8.7 billion to replenish US stocks, $4.4 billion for United States European Command, and $600 million for the Defence Production Act.

Moscow has accused the US and its NATO allies of engaging in a “hybrid war” against Russia, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying Tuesday that the West was using Ukraine as “expendable material” in the confrontation.

Late last week, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov warned that the supply of deadlier and deadlier weapons was dragging Washington deeper and deeper into the conflict, harbingering “the most unpredictable consequences for the two nuclear powers”.

https://sputniknews.com/20220517/ukraine-passes-israel-to-become-biggest-recipient-of-us-military-aid-in-matter-of-months-1095582050.html

Holyoke City Councilor Puello-Mota, charged with possession of child porn, arrested on new charges in Rhode Island

HOLYOKE — In January 2021, Rhode Island prosecutors charged Holyoke City Councilor Wilmer “Will” Puello-Mota with possession of child pornography after allegedly finding sexually explicit photos and videos of a 17-year-old girl on his phone in 2020.

Puello-Mota, who was 24 at the time of his arrest in September 2020, pleaded not guilty to the felony charge in January 2021, was released on bail and was working with his lawyers either to have the case diverted or converted to an offense that wouldn’t require him to register as a sex offender, according to court documents. State prosecutors were amenable to those requests, provided that Puello-Mota meet certain conditions, including that he prove his supervisors in the Massachusetts Air National Guard were knowledgeable of the charge and supported his continued service, the records say.

But last week, Puello-Mota was rearrested on two more charges — obstruction of justice as well as forgery and counterfeiting — after he allegedly forged his military supervisor’s signature on a fraudulent military memo to Rhode Island prosecutors, according to a recently filed affidavit and arrest warrant from police in Warwick, Rhode Island.

Puello-Mota is now being held without bail for allegedly violating his terms of release. Attempts to reach him by phone call and email were unsuccessful Monday, though he is in custody. Robert Rizzuto, a spokesperson for the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, confirmed Tuesday that Puello-Mota is currently incarcerated at the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow.

A message left with the law office of Puello-Mota’s attorney, Robert Munns, went unreturned Monday.

Puello-Mota is a staff sergeant in the Air National Guard, stationed at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield. He ran for an at-large seat on the City Council in 2019 but was not elected. Last year, he ran unopposed for the vacant Ward 2 seat and was sworn in this year.

According to Warwick police narratives submitted to Kent County Superior Court, officers responded to a hotel room on May 30, 2020, after a gun was reported stolen from the room. When they arrived, a 17-year-old girl told officers that the gun was Puello-Mota’s and that he was her “sugar daddy,” the documents allege. Police allege that Puello-Mota initially told them he had met the juvenile online, initially believing she was 22, and had not had any sexual contact with her.

https://www.gazettenet.com/Holyoke-City-Councilor-Wilmer-Will-Puello-accused-of-child-pornography-possession-held-without-bail-46394975

American Legion deputy director among 11 jailed in Indiana child solicitation sting

An American Legion deputy director who oversees programming involving youths across the country was among 11 men arrested in a child solicitation sting out of Johnson County last week, the organization confirmed to IndyStar Tuesday.

Jeff Hendricks, 49, of Unionville, is facing preliminary suspicion of child solicitation and resisting law enforcement charges after he agreed to meet and have sex with who he believed was a 14-year-old girl in Greenwood on May 10, according to the Johnson County Sheriff's Office. The 14-year-old girl was actually a team of undercover agents, and Hendricks was arrested at the planned meeting spot.

An American Legion spokesperson on Tuesday told IndyStar that Hendricks is the deputy director of the Americanism division in the organization's national office, which is based in Indianapolis. He has since been put on administrative leave.

"The seriousness of these allegations cannot be overstated," the organization said in a statement. "We will fully support the investigation and judicial process as it moves forward."

The Americanism division oversees programming related to the American spirit and patriotism, according to a spokesperson, and includes youth programs. Minutes from a Spring 2021 organization meeting indicate Hendricks has participated in conferences related to youth education and youth law enforcement cadets.

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2022/05/17/indiana-american-legion-director-among-arrested-child-sex-sting-johnson-county-jeff-hendricks/9808028002/